To meet the challenge of equal educational opportunity, current methods of public school finance must be revised. The present financial system, based on State equalization of local property tax valuation, is inequitable since it results in many school districts, particularly those in large cities, having inadequate resources to meet extraordinary needs. The Detroit experience dramatizes this nationwide dilemma: In less than a 10-year period the State equalized valuation has decreased by a billion dollars while the pupil population, containing a large proportion of the State's disadvantaged children, has increased. In response to the seemingly impossible task of providing equal education to an increasing enrollment with decreasing resources, the Detroit Board of Education has filed suit against the State of Michigan, charging that the State has failed to provide equal educational opportunities in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. A court's finding in favor of the school district's claim, or a favorable decision for the plaintiff in similar cases currently being contested elsewhere, could lead to the transfer of public school finance from local to State authority for more equitable allocations. (JH)